What's Shakin' Bacon?

I made this card last night, but didn't end up posting it in time for the Paper Smooches birthday challenge because I was too busy gabbing and crafting with my buddies JJ, Tessa, and Nina.  Luckily, it's Anything Goes week at SPARKS, so all is not lost!

I thought I would combine some of my favorite things:  shaker cards and bacon.  I mean, bacon makes everything better, right?

The great thing about crafting with friends is that you get to use their stuff, and this card is chock full of other people's stuff.  I used the Lawn Fawn card die along with a Reverse confetti tag to create the shaker itself.  The bacon was colored with copics, and there's a good helping of sequins in there too.

I created the sentiment using the Alphadot stamp set, and added a little frame of white cardstock to finish up the card.

OK, that's all for today.  I gotta get some extra sleep tonight since I was up waaaay too late with the girls yesterday!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Avery Elle - White Cardstock; sorry I don't remember what patterned paper this was
Stamps:  Paper Smooches - Wake Up, Alphadot
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black; Ranger - Antique Linen Distress Ink
Other:  Lawn Fawn - Stitched Journaling Card Die; Reverse Confetti - Tag Me Confetti Cuts; Avery Elle - Berry Blend and Kraft Blend Sequins; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; Adhesive Foam Squares (not sure which brand this was)

Neat & Tangled Release - Hope Anchors - and a Giveaway this week

Hey everyone!  It's another exciting week here....release week at Neat & Tangled, and I have two sets in this release.  Danielle was so sweet and sent me all the stamps for the release, so I thought I would join in the release festivities.

Today Danielle is showcasing this new mini, Hope Anchors.

I just love this sentiment, it's a great size and Danielle's signature writing.

For this card I cut a panel of watercolor cardstock, and then used a pencil to sketch in some waves.  Then I went over those lines with my Inktense pencils.  I started with just one color of blue, wet my paintbrush and activated the watercolor.  I later went back with a couple of the other blues doing the same thing to add some depth to the color.

Once this was thoroughly dry, I stamped the sentiment with Outdoor Denim ink and then went over it with a Wink of Stella pen to add some great shimmer.  Then I clear embossed over top.  I love the effect it gives.



OK, I mentioned a giveaway right?  Leave a comment on any of my N&T release posts this week and you'll be entered to win one of my new sets - winner's choice.  Comments will close Thursday midnight EST, and I'll post the winner on Friday.  Danielle will also be giving away sets during the release, so you'll want to be sure to head over to Neat & Tangled too.

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - Outdoor Denim; Avery Elle - White; Target - Watercolor Paper Pad
Stamps:  Neat & Tangled - Hope Anchors
Ink:  CTMH - Outdoor Denim; Versamark
Other:  Derwent - Inktense pencils; Zig - Wink of Stella Pen; CTMH - Clear Embossing Powder; Tombow - Stamp Runner

Valentines for Friends with Flair

Well, we were supposed to be handing out these Valentines at school today, but alas, school was cancelled yet again due to the weather.  At least I get to share them here with you guys!

Our school district is rather communist strict, so we aren't allowed to bring in sweets for Valentine's day.  Since Ellie seems to be obsessed with all sorts of key chains/zipper pulls these days we decided to create them for her and Carina's classes, the Penguins and Puffins respectively.  Now let me tell you, I was really nervous we wouldn't find a Puffin stamp, but Unity came through for me.  In fact, I just saw that Paul the Puffin is on sale for $1 this weekend!

Anyway, the keychains were pretty straightforward to make, I used regular white shrinky dink material, stamping with Stazon.  The shrinky dink material is slippery, so be prepared for some duds, and you have to give it some time to dry too.  For Ellie's penguins, once the ink was set, I let her color the hats with Sharpie markers.  Note - the Sharpies will reactivate the Stazon, so color quickly and try not to touch any of the Stazon or it starts to get muddled.  I also used the Sharpies for touch up where the Stazon didn't fully cover.



Once the birds were dry, I added a hole punch, carefully cut around the figures and the hole punch, and baked them.  Then it was just a matter of adding the clip/ring.

The hearts were actually last week's free Silhouette cut file (heart marquee, Design #54960).  It was perfect since it has the holes for stitching.  I used Lawn Fawn's Milo's alphas for the sentiment, the to/from are written on the back of the valentine.  A little natural Divine Twine finished these off.

Hope that you have a happy Valentine's Day and a great weekend!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - Holiday Red Yardstick
Stamps:  Unity - Paul the Puffin, You're Cool Itty Bitty; Lawn Fawn - Milo's Aphas
Ink:  Stazon; Memento - Tuxedo Black
Other:  Divine Twine - Natural Twine; Sharpie Markers; Jewelry findings; Silhouette cut file #54960

Thinking of You, Stepping Out with Hexagons

While waiting for work/school to get cancelled last night, I thought I would play along with the current Step it Up challenge at WPlus9 and combine that with Moxie Fab World's Happy for Hexagons challenge.

I used WPlus9's Quilt Cuts 1 dies as well as, you guessed it, Fresh Cut Florals and More Fresh Cuts.

I knew I wanted to have three layers to the card for the dimension challenge.  I cut one section of hexagons out of my front panel.  The outline of the hexagons was saved as I knew I wanted to use that on the card base.  

On a piece of scrap cardstock, I stamped the floral cluster.  This piece was trimmed down to fit beneath the front panel and the hexagon outline was adhered over top.  

I cut two more hexagon sets.  One was left plain, the second was stamped with another floral cluster (note I left the hexagons in the frame, and actually on my cutting plate, when stamping the flowers, so the framed got stamped too).  Also, I made sure that each hexagon had at least a little stamping on it.

I adhered a plain hexagon outline to the front of the panel. The stamped hexagons were aligned with this frame and popped out with foam tape.

The frame with stamping was then adhered to the panel at the top left.  I also added a few of the plain unstamped hexagons to the card, and then stamped the sentiment.

Finally, the entire front panel was adhered with dimensional foam tape.

I love how much depth there is in this one, but how CAS it is too.

Hope that you're having a great day, we'll be hanging out, watching the Olympics, and playing outside if it's not too windy.  

Supplies Used

Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - WHite Daisy; Avery Elle - Vino cardstock

Stamps:  WPlus9 - Fresh Cut Florals and More Fresh Cuts

Ink:  CTMH - Cocoa, Gypsy, and Topiary; HA - Raspberry Jam, Butterbar, and Fresh Peach

Other:  WPlus9 - Quilt Cuts 1 Dies; CTMH - Dimensional Foam Tape; Tombow - Mono and Multi Mono Adhesive

With all my heart - MME February Challenge

I recently received a new My Mind's Eye 6x6 pad from my sweet friend Tessa, and thought I would put it to good use and play along with MME's February challenge, All You Need is Love.

If you've followed me for a while, you know that I love the quilted look.

For this card I chose two of the patterns from the Cupid's Arrow pad and using a punch, made four 1 1/2" squares of each.  

Using my scoreboard, I aligned the squares on an angle, like a diamond, and scored a line 1/4" to the right of center, and folded along the score line.

Then it was just a matter of arranging them together.  I butted up two opposing patterns together so that the folded back pieces created a square.  These were then assembled to create the focal point of the card.  Each of the pieces was 'tacked down' with a bit of adhesive and then I added the stitching.  

Two small squares of vellum and a wood veneer heart colored with a Spectrum Noir marker finished off the quilt piece.  To add some extra dimension, I popped that entire panel up with foam adhesive.

The sentiment is from Clear and Simple Stamps.

Sometimes it's just fun to play with punches and see what you come up with.

I'm also going to link this up over at Simon Says Stamp since their soon to expire challenge is to use hearts.

Thanks for coming by.  We're supposed to get some snow tonight, but we'll see....

Supplies Used

Paper/Cardstock:  MME - Cupid's Arrow 6x6 pad; CTMH - White Daisy and Slate Cardstock; Recollections - Vellum

Stamps:  CSS - Cupid Love

Ink:  CTMH - Slate

Other:  SC - Atlantic Wood Veneer Heart; CTMH - Dimensional Foam Tape and Liquid Glass; Sewing Machine

Ribbon Carousel Challenge 90 - Washi Tape

Hey everyone!

This month's Ribbon Carousel challenge is Washi tape.  Everyone has a ton, right?

I thought I would take the opportunity to knock out a couple more birthday cards for Andrew's kids at  school.

I love how versatile washi is.  It's a great alternative to using patterned paper or a background stamp



For the card above I put down a mix of washi tape diagonally.  Then I used a scrap of cardstock and laid down several rows of black and white polka dot washi from which the 'happy' was die cut.  I die cut the 'birthday' from regular cardstock, adhered it to some vellum, and then adhered that to the card using some very strategically cut and placed pieces of foam tape.  I wasn't sure how my adhesive would work on the washi, but Tombow Multi Mono works like a charm.



I figured while I was at it I would make another card with an extra die cut sentiment I had, so I just randomly added some strips of washi to a cardstock panel and adhered the sentiment on top.




Now it's your turn.  Create a project using washi and link it up over at the Ribbon Carousel.  One random participant will win a set of 12 spools filled with 4 spools each of seam binding, baker's twine, and May Arts ribbon.   

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardsotck:  CTMH - White Daisy and Black Cardstock; Bazzill Card Shoppe - Candy Hearts and Banana Split Cardstock; Recollections - Vellum
Stamps:  Papertrey - Wonderful Words Additions
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Other:  Papertrey - Wonderful Words Dies, Birthday Trio Die Collection; Various Washi Tapes; Silhouette Studio Happy Birthday Die Cut Design #44052; Tombow - Mono and Multi Mono Adhesives; CTMH - Dimensional Foam Tape 

Let your dreams take flight for PTI birthday celebration

I've been meaning to play along with the PTI birthday celebration challenges this week, but just haven't managed to make it happen until yesterday night.

Yesterday's challenge was to make a Monthly Moments Trading Card/ATC/3x4 Pocket Page Insert.

I took a plain 3x4 piece of cardstock, rounded the corners, and then masked off the center.  Then I added color with a foam tool.  Once this was dry (and I used a heat tool to speed it along), I stamped the feather with white pigment ink, removed the masking, and stamped the sentiment.

This was quick and easy and I love how the white ink looks over the distress ink.

Thanks for coming by!  Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - White Daisy cardstock
Stamps:  PTI - Happy Trails
Ink:  Ranger - Iced Spruce Distress Ink; WPlus9 - White Ink; Memento - Tuxedo Black
Other:  Eclipse - Masking Tape